          (every? db-common/s-or-k? relation-fields)
          (boolean? count?)]}
   (let [order-fn (if (= order :desc) r/desc r/asc)
-        dir-filter (when-not (string/blank? start)
+        dir-filter (when-not (string/empty-or-nil? start)
                      #(direction-filter direction start (r/get-field % :sort-value)))]
     (db-common/with-timeout db-common/default-timeout
       (as-> (r/table table-name) query
         (r/get-all query index-value {:index index-name})
+        (if-not count?
+          (r/order-by query (order-fn index-name))
+          query)
         (if (or dir-filter
                 (not count?))
           (r/merge query (r/fn [row]

         (boolean? count?)
         (boolean? unseen)]}
  (let [order-fn (if (= order :desc) r/desc r/asc)
        dir-filter (when-not (string/blank? start)
                     #(direction-filter direction start (r/get-field % [:reduction :created-at])))
        uns-filter (when (and unseen container-last-seen-at)
                      #(unseen-filter container-last-seen-at (r/get-field % [:reduction :created-at])))

          (r/filter query (r/fn [row]
            ;; All records after/before the start
            (dir-filter row)))
          query)
           ;; Apply count if needed
        (if count? (r/count query) query)
